The hare of Inaba

JAPANESE TAIRV TUE~ SERIES, Jlk 11.

GRIFFITH FARRAN & Co., LONDON ^ SYDNEY,

THE HARE OF INABA.

there were
once eighty-one
brothers, who were Princes
in the land. They were all jealous
of one another, each one wishing to
be King, to rule over the others,
and over the whole Kingdom.
Besides this, each one wanted to
marry the same Princess. She was
the Princess of Yakami in Inaba.
At last they made up their minds

that they would go together to Ina.
ba, and each one try to persuade the
Princess to marry him. Although
eighty of these brothers were jealous
of one another, yet they all agreed
m hating, and being unkind to the
eighty-first, who was good and gen-
tle, and did not like their rough, quar-
relsome ways. When they set out
upon their journey, they made the
poor eighty-first brother walk behind
them, and carry the bag, just as if
he had been their servant, although
he was their own brother, and as
much a Prince as any of them all.

Brand by, the eighty Princes
came to Cape Keta, and there they
found a poor hare, with all his fur
plucked out, lying down very sick
and miserable. The eighty Princes
said to the hare,

"We wili tell you what you
should do.

Go and bathe in the sea water, and
then lie down

on the slope of a high mountain,
and let the wind blow upon you.
That will soon make your fur grow,
we promise you."

So the poor hare believed them,

and went and bathed in the sea, and
afterwards lay down in the sun and
the wind to dry. But, as the salt
water dried, the skin of his body all
cracked and split with the sun and
the wind, so that he was in terrible
pain, and lay there crying, in a much
worse state than he was before.

Now the eighty-first brother was
a long way behind the others,
because he had the luggage to
carry, but at last he came up,
staggering under the weight of the
heavy bag. When he saw the hare
he asked,

" Why are you
lying there crying?"
14 Oh dear!" said
the hare,

w just stop a moment and I will tell
you all my story. I was in the
island of Oki, and I wanted to cross
over to this land. I didn't know
how to get over, but at last I hit
upon a plan. I said to the sea
crocodiles,

" Let us count how many croco-
diles there are in the sea, and how
many hares there are in the land.
And now to begin with the croco-
diles. Come, every one of you, and
lie down in a row, across from this
island to Cape Keta, then I will
step upon each one, and count you
as I run across. When I have
finished counting you, we ca-n
count the hares, and then we shall
know whether there are most hares,
or most crocodiles. "

The crocodiles came and lay
down in a row. Then I stepped on

them and counted them as I ran
across, and was just going to jump
on shore, when I laughed and said,
"Yon silly crocodiles, I don't care
how many of you there are. I only
wanted a bridge to get across by/''
Oh! why did I boast until I was
safe on dry land? For the lust
crocodile, the one which lay at the
very end of the row, seized me, am

plucked off all my fur "
"And serve you right too, for being so
tricky," said the eighty-first brother;
« however, go on with your story/'
"As I was lying here crying,"

continued the hare, "the eighty Prin-
ces who went by before you, told me
to bathe in salt water, and lie down in
the wind. I did as they told me, but
I am ten times worse than before, and
my whole body is smarting and sore."
Then the eighty-first brother said
to the hare, " Go quickly now to
the river, it is quite near. Wash
yourself well with the fresh water,
then take the pollen of the sedges
growing on the river bank, spread
it about on the ground, and roll
among it ; if you do this, your skin
will heal} and your fur grow again.1'

So the hare
did as he
was told;

and this time he was quite cured,
and his fur grew thicker than ever.
Then the hare said to the eighty-
first brother, "As for those eighty
Princes, your brothers,
they shall not get
the Princess
of Inaba.
Although you
carry
>
the

?>7et
Highness shall at last get

both the princess and the country."

Which things came to pass, for the
Princess would have nothing to
do with those eighty bad brothers,
but chose the eighty-first who was
kind and good. Then he was
made King of the country, and
lived happily
all his
life.